Hellfire
by greyrondo
Summary: Their world didn't have a true god. But that didn't mean it didn't have a hell. Fayt and Albel, one-shot.


Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean.

Over Halloween, I watched the Silent Hill movie and realized that somehow, every time before that particular viewing, I had missed the bit in the basement where everything actually gets explained (I have nothing to say in my own self defense). Then I started wikipedia-ing Silent Hill (which I don't much recommend, especially if you're curious about Pyramid Head). Long story short, this one-shot happened.

While nothing much physical happens, this can be considered a shounen-ai between Fayt and Albel. If that's not your cup of tea, consider yourself warned.

**Hellfire**

Fayt leaned his head back to take in the night sky. A vast ocean of white, pockmarked by gleaming maws of darkness where there were once stars, returned the stare.

Their world had no true god. But that didn't mean that it didn't have a hell.

It had been a mistake to challenge Luther. Yes, they had won, and they were alive. More or less. But total annihilation of their universe might have been preferable to the state of their existence afterwards.

Everything here was now false. Their world was now a fragmented underworld, because Destruction had tampered with Creation.

A sunken marsh swept out before him within the ring of thorns marking the border of Albel's hell.

It was brighter than Fayt had imagined; and cold. Hadn't Albel's nightmares always been haunted by fire? But the breath that Fayt exhaled misted pale in the vacant air in front of him before dissipating like a dream.

"What am I doing here," Fayt whispered to himself, wanting to hear anything but the cold quiet. "He won't want to see me."

But Sophia said she couldn't find Albel. None of the others could; but they all admitted that, in a twisted fashion, it was Fayt he had been closest to…before. Sophia had urged him not to go looking; Fayt hadn't particularly wanted to, either. But that was for his own reasons.

There was something rank on the frigid air, barely noticeable in the chill. And there was something off about the water; it drew too much attention to itself. Fayt took a precarious step forward; and in the mist objects glinted like ribbon-thin starlight.

Swords, placed evenly in a grid like grave markers. Attached to the hilts were the shattered skulls of those who had fallen in battle. Fayt advanced down the rise of the hill, and took his first step into the marsh.

"Ugh!" Fayt gagged on the rich iron red of the swampwater.

It was blood.

For a moment, the marsh around him spun as he came to this realization. Then he steadied himself; his feet sank into the muck a few inches. Looking down, he saw that the marsh was only as deep as his ankles. He braced himself against the smell, and moved further into the center.

"Albel?" Fayt called out. But he only heard the sound of his voice returning to him, distorted hideously as if a ghoul had screeched Albel's name instead. The mist was thinning. Did he see something ahead?

His feet found the mausoleum—or the broken remains of one—before his eyes did. The ground beneath him became substantial, and he gathered his breath to climb up the abrupt slope.

"Albel," Fayt sighed in relief as he found solid ground under his feet. It was a marble slab, like that of a tomb's.

Albel knelt, facing away from Fayt, naked and shivering. So Fayt saw what Albel was bending broken over, before he saw Albel's face. But he heard Albel's voice, choking.

"Fayt," Albel cried.

Fayt flinched; he saw himself, eyes wide in death, his throat slit and still bleeding. His own blood ran rivulets over the broken tomb. It was his blood that fed the swamp.

Albel cradled Fayt's corpse tight against his chest. His bare skin was soaked through red from his chest down.

"This is your hell…?" Fayt whispered. "Me… dead?"

And he staggered towards Albel, falling to the marble only a breath behind Albel, who was oblivious.

"I never knew," Fayt said aloud, half in shock. "I didn't think… it made me feel better when I knew I got under your skin, when I could show you how much I hated you. Because I was so disgusted with myself for…"

"Is this why Sophia couldn't find you?" Fayt asked, wondering if Albel could even hear him. "Not because she couldn't, but because she saw this, and didn't want you near me, just in case—"

Fayt paused. He watched Albel shudder through his jagged tears.

"Just in case I loved you back. And you took me away from her forever."

"The only thing we ever did that was wrong was hurt each other," Albel said hollowly.

"Albel?" Fayt said quickly. "Albel, are you with me?"

Albel didn't show any sign that he had heard a single word that Fayt had said. He continued speaking.

"I was so terribly wrong. I had thought you cared about me, Fayt, when you told me you didn't hate me. Is it wrong that I prefer my hell to reality? That I can hold you here and you won't reject me?"

Fayt's breath caught in his throat. Albel's hell was breaking down; his presence here was having some effect after all.

"Albel," Fayt said desperately, reaching forward. He wrapped his arms around Albel's naked chest, and nestled his chin in Albel's shoulder. "Albel, listen to me. I know you feel me here; try to hear me. I'm not really there in your arms. I'm here, alive. Everyone's waiting for you."

"Fayt…" Albel sighed, his voice fading again into abstraction.

"No!!" Fayt shouted. "Albel, don't go back down!" He withdrew from Albel's shoulder blades, and moved around to face Albel.

"Albel, I'm waiting for you!" Fayt cried out. And then his voice choked, his eyes widened in realization of how truly he had just spoken.

The white mist sunk around them; darkness eclipsed the blood marsh. Fayt panicked, but then he looked up.

It was nighttime, true nighttime. An ocean of stars beckoned to him. The scent of blood was gone; it was replaced by the earthy smell of dried grasses and dust. A gentle wind hushed the grass as it skipped across the plains.

"Fayt, what are you doing out here? You should be with the others," Albel said plainly. "I thought you said you were going with them after all of this ended. You should be on the _Diplo_," he added quietly.

And Fayt looked between them, realizing that there was no longer anything there but the incredibly small space of air keeping them apart.

"I decided I'd rather be with you instead."


End file.
